Professional Writer and Communication Consultant

NEWS RELEASE
DEADLY RISK: AMERICAN CATTLE RANCHING ON THE MEXICAN BORDER AND OTHER
TRUE CATTLE RANCHING STORIES
(November 2013) CONTACT: Nancy Dale 863 214-8351 www.nancydalephd.com or nancydale@gmail.com
The living legends of the American Cowboy reflect the American Dream of spirit, fortitude, and dedication to principles as their destiny created the story of the American West. It all began in the desert region of South Africa (now Chad), ten thousand years ago before the Sahara Desert was created by worldwide glacial climate change. Early hunter-gatherers domesticated the Auroch ox, the first bovine species of cattle that served to advance agriculture and survival.
Early “cattle ranching” was initiated when hunter/gatherers migrated with their herds up the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers then expanded into India, Europe and United States when Ponce de Leon brought Andalusian cattle into Florida from Spain. “Western Expansionism” gave birth to the cattle industry in the American West.
These true stories of early pioneer cattle ranchers instill the American spirit into the 21st century. As legendary cowboy author, J.P.S. Brown (Nogales, Arizona), says, “Real cowboys are not always who you think they are whether or not they wear boots and cowboy hats; it is their Spirit that lives.” Continue reading →

March 27, 2010 started out like any other day for Sue and Rob Krentz at their sprawling 35,000 acre cattle ranch in Douglas, Arizona. As a fourth generation rancher, Rob Krentz was doing what he loved to do, taking care of the herd, the land, and the wildlife. The life and death of Rob Krentz, the man, father, cattle rancher, humanitarian and tragic hero changed Arizona history forever. This tribute is told by Sue Krentz.

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The founding fathers of Florida are the pioneer “cow hunters” who migrated south in the 1800s when the government opened up new territories after the Seminole Indian Wars. In search of wide open prairies and water, daring young pioneers loaded up their families in covered wagons, gathered up their cattle, and ventured south. It was a long and arduous journey into an unforgiving environment.

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An excursion into the heart of the Everglades 40 miles west of Clewiston is a unique “place to learn” (translated from the Miccosukee), the namesake of the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum. Walking through tall glass doors, the visitor is greeted by a large inscription depicting the purpose of the museum: “The museum collects, preserves, protects and interprets Seminole culture and history, inspiring an appreciation and understanding of the Seminole people.” The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, located in the middle of a 64-acre swamp on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation, demonstrates and displays in their own words their story of survival in the unforgiving Everglades.

“The cowboy is not the dying breed he is said to be by those that drive down the highway looking for him. As Lee Marvin told Jack Palance in the 1970’s movie, ‘Monte Walsh‘: ‘As long as there is one man on one horse pushing one cow, there will always be cowboys’.”

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The true Legacies of Florida’s “cow hunters” who tamed the last frontier is recorded in their historic lessons and lifestyle, working the land as they knew it, and learning its ways. The pioneers respected the land and wildlife that gave them spiritual and economic sustenance; the gift of a unique lifestyle in an era that will never return, yet their heritage continues.

“Would Do, Could Do and Made Do,” was a way of life as the cow hunters lived through struggle and forbearance. As told in their own words and pictures, this book is a living tribute and memorial to the lessons they inscribe for future generations.

Palmdale, a remote town in Glades County with a population less than 1,000, is on the curb of creeping urbanization.

Today, more people than Palmdale’s entire population are moving into Florida each day.

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The pioneer culture and Florida’s last wilderness is threatened by growth that exploits “blue gold” water and the land. The sprawling ranches set amidst tall cabbage palm prairies are disappearing. The cost to stay is more than the price to sell with high inheritance taxes and the evaporation of a cattle based economy.

The early pioneers forecasted Florida’s future in their own lifetime as they struggled to hold onto a way of life in a place where few chose to carve a living.

Their stories predict the high premium of development: light pollution, traffic, sewage, crime and the “napalming” of native trees replaced by “ornamental” shrubs, cement, and gated communities. They foresaw the destruction of natural eco-systems, water shortages and communities where wildlife extermination businesses spring up to destroy “pesky” intruders such as squirrels, woodpeckers, snakes and other Everglades species.

The story of Palmdale, Florida, and its people reflects a proud cultural heritage living on the edge of civilization. Palmdale is a ghost town today with only a few ranches left and the Seminole Indian Tribe living off a small market economy against the odds of metropolitan growth, dollars and political power.

This story reflects a tragic national trend threatening the survival of rural America.

Whether it is hunting “piney wood rooters,” parting cows, rounding up wild horses, hunting alligators or heading-up the six family owned W&W Lumber Yards, Iris Wall is at home in what she says “is the best town on Earth” Indiantown, Florida.

A soft breeze feathers through thatches of palmettos spiking a crimson horizon, as dragonflies dance from peak to peak, flashing their turquoise iridescence along a whimsical path. Beams of sunlight stream through waving cabbage palms tracing their graceful stalks into native scrub. Quietly, the morning awakes in this small area of Glades County, nestled on the western shore of Lake Okeechobee in the vast Everglades prairie; a living spectacle of Nature’s unobtrusive Beauty that captures the senses and stamps its unique imprint upon space, time, and those who carry their weary bodies from the bustle of city drama into the fresh air of the pristine wilderness.

It’s quite a surprise to see the Premier of the Republic of Macedonia wearing a Stetson, and perhaps even more of a surprise to learn that Florida cattle ranchers are working on exporting live animals to the southern most part of the former Socialists Federation of Yugoslavia, but this is the cultural and economic bridge being extended around the world by two Florida cattlemen: Bud Adams and Jim Strickland.

The 1800s cattle drives are carved deeply into the legends of Florida history when “cow hunters” drove their herds over hundred of miles on the old “cracker trail” to markets in Punta Rassa, shipping them aboard paddle boats to Cuba and Key West to replenish the beef supply after the Civil and Spanish American Wars, and by train from Ft. Pierce north to the breadbasket of the country.

Nancy Dale, keynote address to the Inaugural Graduating Leadership Class of the Glades/Hendry County EDCs June 16, 2007

Culminating six months of interactive workshops and seminars, twenty graduates of the inaugural leadership class of Glades/Hendry County Economic Development Councils received their diploma June 16, 2007 at the Clewiston Country Club with more than one hundred guests in attendance. Janice Groves, Hendry EDC Executive Director and Emcee Dan Regelski, Director of the Small Business Development Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, congratulated the graduates and encouraged them to take the foreground in leadership for the community.

In 1700, the Fussell family traveled the long route to America from England eventually homesteading in Georgia. “In 1875, my great granddaddy George W. Fussell made his way through the flatwoods, down to what is now known as Polk City,” said rancher Dewey Fussell who lives upon the land cultivated for over 130 years.

A year before Baron G. Collier used his own money in 1923 to stretch the first road across the wild and intrepid Everglades that would eventually link Naples, Miami, and Tampa, Robert Roberts, Jr. and his pioneer family had already planted deep roots in an even more remote part of South Florida’s Big Cypress swamp in a town, yet to be named, Immokalee.

Running was no longer easy. The uneven curvature of the ragged stones tore effortlessly through frayed jeans, every stride a drudgery of toil and pain. This infliction of the world had to stop, manifested in the bloodstain of a hopeless cause. But for now, there was no other way but to run until the cursed body surrendered….

Miami-Dade County covers more than one thousand square miles with a multi-cultural population of more than 2.5 million people. This montage of diverse cultures, interests and lifestyles is the domain of Miami-Dade County Police Department Director Carlos Alvarez.

Featured Stories (partial list):
Donald Peeples: The Legendary Life of a Florida “Cow Hunter”
Ancient Indian Mounds;
Palmdale: The Tin Lizzie Trail to the Garden of Eden;
The Old World Indian Farmers at Fort Center;
The Railroad Opens the Gateway to Glades County;
Tribute to a Lost Art: The Closing of the Cypress Knee Museum